


More Than 1000 Words

by kathierif_fic



Series: Fly Away [2]
Category: CSI: NY
Genre: AU, M/M, Multi, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-02
Updated: 2012-03-02
Packaged: 2017-11-01 00:51:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/350172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kathierif_fic/pseuds/kathierif_fic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A picture says more than 1000 words.</p>
            </blockquote>





	More Than 1000 Words

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel to "Fly Away"

The picture had been in one of the two boxes he had picked up from his parents, probably hidden between an old shirt and some paperwork he didn't even know he ever had, and an old copy of a children's book. He hadn’t even seen it until he’d taken out the quilt his mother had made for him after the accident and it had accidentally fallen down.

"We love you, Donnie," his mother had told him with a smile as he had been at his childhood home, to pick up his stuff as per her request. "Your father and I, we are really proud of you. But we need the room, and you have a good home now. With Mac."

Don had only nodded and had smiled back. Rationally, he knew that she was right. He loved both Danny and Mac, but until now, he always had a place to hide if he wanted to avoid them.

And now, he couldn't do that any longer.

A stranger would move into his room, into his parents' life, and it was time for him to move on, as well.

He wasn't a scared kid anymore. He knew he could handle this.

And so he had picked up the two boxes. All his belongings that had been at his parents' place had fitted in there, and there still was room for several slices of his mother's apple pie.

Don sighed and looked around his room. 

One part of his life obviously was over.

A new one had started.

He just had to get used to this new part, and that included Danny and Mac, and that, automatically, included more complications than he’d thought possible. He was beginning to fear that they would give him grey hair before he’d even gotten used to wearing Danny’s bracelet.

This had been Danny’s room, but Danny had moved out and had claimed his spot at Mac’s side, as his Companion, and that included more room. 

It wasn’t that Danny needed it, and as far as Don knew, Danny had spent every night so far either at the lab, working, or in Mac’s bed, but not in his new quarters, but it was tradition, and Mac had insisted.

They had converted the small room into an office for Danny, and that automatically meant that Don had to move too, into Danny’s old room, which was bigger. Don looked around. His books, neatly lined up on the bookshelf, looked forlorn and lost with so much free space around them. The whole room felt naked and alien to him. It would need some time for him to get used to this.

Don shook his head to clear it from these thoughts. It wasn’t as if he planned on spending too much time in this room, anyways. The reason he knew so well that Danny had been with Mac the nights he’d been home was because he had been there too, securely wrapped in their arms and wings, no need for blankets despite their nakedness.

His eyes wandered to the quilt again. It still was nice to have room for himself.

“Hey.”

The soft voice made him look up and grin. “Hey yourself,” he answered and ran a hand through his short dark hair. The resulting glide of the bracelet over the short hair on his forearm and the soft jingle when it was stopped by his watch was a sound he still wasn’t used to. It was looser than the one he had had before, and it didn’t have the sharp edge of the NYPD-issued bracelets that tended to rub his wrist raw if he didn’t pay attention to it, no matter how often he got it filed off.

“We need to get that fixed,” Mac said with a small nod towards his wrist. “Better sooner than later. Before you lose it.”

Don shrugged. “It’s fine, tight enough,” he answered. “It doesn’t bother me. Just have to get used to the extra space.” He lifted his hand again and watched the bracelet for a second.

Mac smiled and pushed himself off the door frame. “I see you’re almost done…if you need anything…” he started.  
“…I’ll go and annoy Danny, I know, Mac,” Don smiled. “Since I’m his responsibility now and all.”

“Of course.” Mac nodded before deciding to change topics. “Are you and Danny planning on doing something tonight?”

Don shrugged and looked down. “I don’t even know if he’ll be home tonight,” he confessed. “He’s still working, and I think he and Lindsay wanted to meet for drinks later.”

“You want to join Peyton and me for dinner?” Mac offered.

Don ran a hand over the soft material of the quilt that he’d haphazardly thrown over the bed. “I think I’ll pass,” he answered. “I’m sure Peyton will appreciate having your complete attention.”

“Probably,” Mac admitted. “So, what are your plans for tonight?”

Don shrugged. “I don’t know yet,” he admitted. “Pizza and a movie, maybe.”

“Okay.” Mac’s eyes traveled over the bed again.

“I haven’t seen that before,” he commented.

“My mother gave it to me, after the accident,” Don explained easily and ran his fingers along the quilt again. “To keep me warm at night.” He chuckled softly.

Mac took a step closer and reached out. He pulled Don close and wrapped both arms and wings protectively around the taller man.

“We love you,” he said firmly. “Don’t worry about Peyton or Lindsay. In the end, we’ll always come back to you.”

Don exhaled slowly against his neck. “Don’t let Peyton hear that,” he advised while his arms came up to wrap around Mac. One hand brushed against the soft flutter of his wing. “She might end that agreement you two made.”

“I have you and Danny,” Mac repeated. “Peyton…that’s just family business.”

“I know,” Don murmured. “And I know that Danny and Lindsay…” He shrugged. “You might not like it, Mac, but you’re getting pretty good at this political stuff. Affiliating both Peyton’s and Lindsay’s family with yours…”

Mac snorted and ran his hands over Don’s back in a soothing caress. “Lindsay and Danny, that’s the same,” he said. “In the end, Danny is mine – and yours, no matter how often and how long he is with Lindsay.”

Don laughed softly and pulled back. “Sometimes, I wish Danny was a girl,” he joked. “Then you wouldn’t need Peyton for that heir thing, and Lindsay…”

Mac shook his head in amusement. “Imagine a pregnant Danny,” he teased. “We’d have to be afraid to come home.”

“Or leave,” Don agreed. “Unless it’s to bring him more weird food.”

They both laughed at the thought, and Mac reached up, tangled his hands in Don’s short hair, and pulled him down for a soft kiss.

“You okay?” he murmured against the younger man’s lips.

“I will be,” Don promised. “You go and enjoy your dinner.” He smirked. “And everything after that.”

He lifted his hand to wave at someone behind Mac’s back. Mac turned his head, and Danny stepped into the room, into his line of vision. His wings were half folded on his back, his feathers were in disarray, and he looked tired.

“Lindsay ‘n Peyton are waiting in the living room,” he reported. “I said I need a quick shower, and you’d be right out with Peyton.”

Mac nodded and pulled him in their hug. “I will be,” he said. “I just need to take care of something else first.”

“Yeah? Like what?” Danny wanted to know. He leaned against Don and wrapped an arm around his waist. His wing brushed against Don’s arm in a soft, absent-minded caress.

“Like this,” Mac answered and pressed his lips to Danny’s. His tongue sneaked out, and when Danny relaxed against him and into the kiss, he let it invade Danny’s mouth, run along his teeth and wrap around Danny’s tongue. He only pulled back when he heard Don’s soft moan close to his ear.

“You sure you don’t want to tag along?” he asked.

Don swallowed. “Pretty sure,” he affirmed. “You go and have fun with Peyton.”

Danny ran a hand over his mouth. “You want to go for drinks with us?” he asked. “I’m sure Lindsay wouldn’t mind.”

“She has just eyes for you anyways,” Don pointed out dryly. “I’m fine, really. I actually might get some sleep tonight, without someone’s wing poking me in the ribs all night long.”

Danny opened his mouth to protest, but then his eyes fell on the photo that Don had put on the desk and forgotten about.

“What’s that?” he asked curiously and took it. Almost immediately, he started to grin. “Aw, Donnie, how cute!”

Don blushed slightly. “It’s nothing,” he dismissed. “Give it back!”

“I don’t think so!” Danny laughed and used his wing to keep Don at arm’s length. “Did you see this, Mac?”

“No,” Mac admitted, curiously. “What is it?”

Danny laughed and handed the picture over. Mac took it, but only after checking that Don was okay with it.

Don just shrugged, and so Mac looked down at a much younger Don Flack. His dark hair was longer and windswept, falling into his blue twinkling eyes; he was wearing a dark leather jacket, a white shirt and a grin from one ear to the other.

It was nothing Mac couldn’t see every day, when he cared to look, when there was time and space for a smile.

The unusual thing about this younger Don in this picture was the wings. 

They were black like the night, shining in the light, like a raven’s wings. The feathers were tousled and sticking up along the bones, ruffled by the wind and the speed of flight.

He looked as if nothing in the world could stop him.  
Carefree.  
Good.

Danny broke the silence with a soft chuckle. He leaned up to kiss Don’s cheek. “We should go, Mac,” he said. “And Don?”

“What, Messer?” Don asked, with that mixture of fond exasperation and indulgent smile that made Mac fall even more in love with him.

Danny laughed and handed the picture back. “Long thin arms and legs, and that grin…in that picture, you look like an overgrown scarecrow.”

The End.


End file.
